


The Shore Leave that Almost Wasn't

by pherryt



Series: Star Trek Bingo [13]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek AOS
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Shore Leave, holo deck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-12-07 08:12:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18232256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pherryt/pseuds/pherryt
Summary: They absolutely needed this vacation, so of course, things couldn't go right, could they? it's their first shore leave in months, and things weren't exactly as they appeared.Nyota is positive at this point that the Enterprise and it's crew were suffering from the old curse: "May you lead interesting lives"





	The Shore Leave that Almost Wasn't

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FPwoper](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FPwoper/gifts).



> randomly picked for my star trek bingo - this was the Spock/uhura Holo Deck square picked by fpwoper
> 
> so, as far as i was aware, there were no holodecks in the original series. the only instance i remember them was in one of the books where another planet had the technology but the federation/starfleet did not, so it was a little harder to come up with an idea for this square. 
> 
> in fact, it originally had a slightly different tone to how spock and uhura figured it out and it had a more sinister sound and then i just stalled for a short bit. i actually scrapped over 200 words when i finally came back to it and switched directions and i'm much happier with it now

Nyota stretched languidly along the cool sheets of the bed, then stood, padding out of the bedroom, heedless of her nakedness. 

She found Spock in the main room of their vacation suite, quite wide awake.

“Spock?”

He looked up, his hands stilling on the datapad he’d snuck along with them. Nyota could swear she saw a hint of guilt before it was swept away.

“My apologies, Nyota. I did not mean to wake you,” he said, the words sincere, at least.

She sighed.

“Are you not enjoying our vacation?” Nyota asked. They’d been through a lot the last few months, and when the captain had announced they’d be heading for a new planet that had recently been cleared by the Federation for Shore Leave, the crew had been ecstatic. And Nyota had marched straight down to Sickbay to make sure that Dr. McCoy put Spock on the first rotation down – with her, of course.

He had, because Dr. McCoy was no fool (well, at least in this case) and no one stood between her and her determination to take care of Spock. In that way, they were alike, as he did the same with the captain.

She strode closer to Spock, catching his eyes and reaching out with her hand. He responded in kind, their fingers touching, giving her the little thrill that it always did.

“I am indeed.”

“Then what is wrong?” she asked gently.

“I do not yet know,” Spock confessed.

“Come to bed, love. You’ve been overworked and over tired for a while now – we all have been – and you’re probably just feeling out of sorts having the first down time we’ve had in months,” she reasoned.

He quirked a brow as he though her words through. He nodded. “You are most likely correct. I am so used to working through one problem and moving on to the next one that this time to be idle feels… wrong.”

Her smile spread and she tugged lightly, Spock coming easily to his feet and following her to their room. Slipping off the pants he’d been wearing, he joined her under the covers. Vulcans usually meditated, not slept, but he found a certain comfort in sleeping beside Nyota that meditation did not provide. He usually fell asleep with her for a few hours, then woke early to do the meditation that he still required.

It was an odd shift at first, but it was one that Spock greatly enjoyed.

When Nyota woke the next morning, sunlight streaming through the windows and warming her skin, she wasn’t alarmed not to find Spock by her side, well used to his nighttime and early morning habits.

Sure enough, when she sat up in the bed, the sheets slipping away from her skin, she found him kneeling on a pillow, a few candles placed strategically about him. Leaving him undisturbed, she pulled on a robe provided by the resort and went to the other room, calling up the resort menu to order their breakfast.

Spock joined her just as their food arrived, transported straight to the table.

“Good morning, Spock,” she said cheerfully.

He sat slowly and her smile fell. “Okay, what’s going on?” her heart pounded with the many possibilities. Spock had tried to break up with her before – not for his sake, but for the sake of Vulcan – and it had been one of the worst times of her life. Surely he wouldn’t do it again?

“Nyota,” he said softly, “I do not wish to alarm you, but I am not altogether certain this place is what it seems.”

She paused in the act of reaching for some fruit and stared at him, pulling her hand back to rest in her lap. “How do you mean?”

“Since we have arrived, how many people have we seen? Either from the crew, the resort or the inhabitants of this planet?” he asked.

Nyota mulled that over. “We last saw the crew when we beamed down, our guides taking us in separate directions. Since then…” she stopped. “No one, at least not up close. In the distance I’m sure I saw Nurse Chapel.”

He nodded, as if that was what he’d expected to hear.

“Spock, what are you getting at?”

“If we were as alone as our experience suggests, then the strain on my shields should not be as great as they are. And even still, in a resort this size, we should still run across other individuals, regardless if they are part of our crew or not, and yet we have not, though we have not confined ourselves to our quarters. In this regard, the two things conflict. Neither should we be as alone as we appear to be, nor should I feel the presence of so many more minds than I do aboard ship.”

“Well,” Nyota said slowly, thinking it through, “Would not an inhabited planet, by its very nature, be significantly more populated than that of a single starship?”

“You are correct,” he said, inclining his head. “But you give my abilities too much credence – my range is not that great that it should be affected on a planetwide scale, nor – as you know – do I extend it often. This resort holds more minds than the Enterprise by a factor of 10.”

She drew in a sharp breath. “Spock, that’s impossible! We would have _seen_ someone!”

“That is the same conclusion I drew – and yet, the evidence remains.”

She shook her head, trying to wrap her head around what he’d revealed. “All right, now what?”

“I believe it would be best to discretely explore the confines of our isolation – there must be an explanation for the contradiction of our senses. At the same time, we should make an effort to find others of the crew, and make sure that we are none of us in any danger,” he said.

“What I don’t understand,” she said, thinking things through slowly. “Is how they’re doing it? And why? We’ve left the suite, we’ve gone down to the beach – nobody’s stopped us from going anywhere we wanted, we’ve encountered no unsurpassable barriers. Spock, none of it makes _sense_.”

Nyota sighed. There went their vacation, the much-needed rest and relaxation they needed. They’d only been there less than a day and a single night – it had not been nearly as much shore leave as they needed.

Sometimes, she thought the universe was out to get them. surely no other ships in the fleet ran into as many problems as theirs?

Standing, she said, “I’ll get properly dressed.” Leaving the room, she looked longingly at the shower – a real, honest to god shower – and shook her head once more, heading for the closet she’d hung all her clothes in. expecting many nice days at the beach, she’d packed a series of sundresses and some old-fashioned hats, but now she was wishing she’d packed a bit more practical.

Frowning, she selected a bright yellow one, slipping off her robe and dressing quickly. She was tying her hair up and out of the way when she rejoined Spock, but before either of them could say anything more, the room shimmered.

The bright white walls of the open floor planned suite faded away into a plain black room marked off with a grid, showing a space smaller than her cadet room at the Academy. The view out the gorgeous picture windows of the beach and the beautiful sunny day was gone, and the only physical things left in the room were her, Spock and the things they had brought with them, now scattered in various places about the floor.

With this incontrovertible proof that something was, indeed, wrong, and the resort wasn’t what they had thought as Spock had said, Nyota tensed, wishing she had a weapon at hand.

A door – previously unseen in the wall – opened and one of the planets residents walked through with an apologetic grimace.

“Commander Spock, Lieutenant Uhura, our most sincerest apologies that our holiday package was not up to your standards. If you’d like, we can try another immersion holiday. We can send you to any planet you want from the comfort of this very room, all of it absolutely risk free – “

“What?” Nyota said, blinking at the humanoid that was native to this planet.

“Our holo resort offers a wide range of experiences with your safety in mind. Now, if you can pick a new vacation, we’ll get it set up right away –“ the alien held out a tablet, somewhat bulkier than their data pads and Spock took it as she glanced down at it.

“Am I given to understand that the beaches we walked on yesterday was in no way real?”

“You are correct,” the alien said with a proud beam. “Our holo resort employs a unique technology that can give anyone the dream vacation they’ve always wanted, while staying completely safe and still believe it is absolutely real!”

“Fascinating – how does it work?” Spock asked, his eyebrow raising up and Nyota sighed.

So much for their vacation – but at least it was for less sinister reasons than they had feared. Maybe their host could at least call the beach back up. Nyota was afraid she’d lost Spock in his fascination for a new technological discovery. The only other person who might rival that fascination was Scotty and she was just grateful that he wasn’t here to get lost _with_ Spock, cause then neither of them would come up for air before shore leave was over.

“Thank you. I appreciate the reading material and I look forward to going through it at our earliest convenience,” Spock said, surprising Nyota pleasantly. “In the meantime, if it is no problem, we would like to return to our planned vacation. Now that we are aware of why it felt wrong, I believe we shall be able to… relax and fully appreciate it as it deserves.”

“That is what I like to hear!” their host said, taking back the tablet and poking at it. The suite sprang back up around them, the distant sound of birds and crashing waves rolling gently in through the open windows along with a light breeze.

He turned to leave.

“Excuse me,” she said. “If we should want to meet up with our friends, how would we go about arranging that? I assume they are in similar rooms having their own private vacations?”

“That is an unusual request, but it can be done. Just use the com here, in the wall,” their host pointed at the same panel Nyota had used not even an hour before to order their breakfast. “A transporter will be made available to bring you to them, or vice versa. Enjoy the rest of your stay!”

He walked out the door of the suite, leaving Nyota and Spock alone once more. He looked at the datapad in his hand that she _knew_ had all the new material downloaded onto it but then he placed it down on the table next to their breakfast.

Nyota beamed as he held his hand out to her and she took it, allowing herself to be drawn back into their bedroom and to the shower and bath she had looked at longingly only moments ago.

“I believe we still have a vacation to enjoy, do we not?” he asked softly, knowing she would hear him.

“We do indeed,” she agreed, happiness and relief bubbling up in her chest though she kept her smile small.

She knew he’d feel it across the bond anyway, no matter how tightly he held his shield due to the close proximity of all those other unseen resort guests.

She was going to relish in having Spock all to herself for the rest of this leave, and not waste a single second more of it. She had big plans of swimming in that ocean – real or not – of stargazing, long walks and hot soaks. Of teaching Spock about the joys of making sandcastles and how to sit on the sand and do absolutely nothing.

They deserved it.


End file.
